The funny thing is I do agree with you all, though, that I don't think Jenny would be a good fit for the Eurosport commentary team.

Originally Posted by Jaana

I don´t think that Kirk or that guy would be any assets for Eurosport, .

When this thread started, it was *before* Kirk disgraced herself with those increasingly "mean girls" videos with Dave Lease. I think they've gone too far and become too unprofessional for any major network to consider them now.

I actually think, based on her critical analyses, Jenny Kirk would be a great addition to the Eurosport team. Why? She's shown that she's capable of not having favourites and giving credit to the skaters to deserve it. However, in saying that, she still tends to be snarky. I don't mind as much, but the beauty of the Eurosport team is that because Britain hasn't had much success in the way of actual figure skating athletes- they manage to remain on point at all times. Kirk's tendencies to deviate too much would be too distracting.

I actually like the line up as it is. It would make a difference to have a lady commentator but I don't think by much. Chris and Simon (or Nicky) all know what they are talking about and I LOVE that they say exactly what is on the audience's minds. To have a female perspective during ladies' events would be great, especially in putting into perspective the realities of difficult elements and such for women compared to the men's- but the current line up does that anyway. I am a Mao fan and what I love from Eurosport is that whenever Mao lands a triple axel- they always point out the fact that it is a difficult element and that it should always be worth more than a 3-3 because of that fact. Unlike their brassy and quite frankly, abrasive counterpart in Scott Hamilton whose blatant favouritism does nothing for his job or the way he comes off. I'm not trying to turn this into one of THOSE threads, but what I'm saying is that they recognise the realities of the sport. Likewise, see their commentary of Chan's 2013 win.

I actually think, based on her critical analyses, Jenny Kirk would be a great addition to the Eurosport team. Why? She's shown that she's capable of not having favourites and giving credit to the skaters to deserve it. However, in saying that, she still tends to be snarky. I don't mind as much, but the beauty of the Eurosport team is that because Britain hasn't had much success in the way of actual figure skating athletes- they manage to remain on point at all times. Kirk's tendencies to deviate too much would be too distracting.

I actually like the line up as it is. It would make a difference to have a lady commentator but I don't think by much. Chris and Simon (or Nicky) all know what they are talking about and I LOVE that they say exactly what is on the audience's minds. To have a female perspective during ladies' events would be great, especially in putting into perspective the realities of difficult elements and such for women compared to the men's- but the current line up does that anyway. I am a Mao fan and what I love from Eurosport is that whenever Mao lands a triple axel- they always point out the fact that it is a difficult element and that it should always be worth more than a 3-3 because of that fact. Unlike their brassy and quite frankly, abrasive counterpart in Scott Hamilton whose blatant favouritism does nothing for his job or the way he comes off. I'm not trying to turn this into one of THOSE threads, but what I'm saying is that they recognise the realities of the sport. Likewise, see their commentary of Chan's 2013 win.

I agree. They are more objective than the dreadful Scott Hamilton. He ruined my Olympic experience last time with his one sided commentary. British Euro sport are fair in their comments. Using Mao as an example, when her LP program was below expectations at the NHK trophy they commented fairly I think on the bad performance, But at the 4cc continents they also commented on how impressive her triple axel is. Clearly no favoritism based on the skaters reputation.

Yes Uotila has some nice qualities, but in some areas she's painful to listen to. Typical example is when Oda once went Oda (did three 3t's in one LP instead of 4t and two 3t's), Uotila praised him for being smart and playing it safe and then couldn't understand why he got such low scores. That happens regularly.

I must have missed that, because I would say that generally Uotila knows her stuff really well.

She's shown that she's capable of not having favourites and giving credit to the skaters to deserve it. However, in saying that, she still tends to be snarky. I don't mind as much, but the beauty of the Eurosport team is that because Britain hasn't had much success in the way of actual figure skating athletes- they manage to remain on point at all times. Kirk's tendencies to deviate too much would be too distracting.

While I enjoy their videos, I don't agree that they have no favouritism in their plays. They certainly don't stray much from their own standards of evaluations, which is great, but the fact that they are VERY American is the thing. Once your country is traditionally a force in certain field, you can't not be biased, and I've been consistently seeing this (I won't go pointing which and which) throughout the videos. It doesn't mean they are Americana ubers, but American (or any labelled) way has its own way of putting emphasis on certain skills. The credit I give them is the fair consistency in views, although not always, which is why I disregard that bit. Had they been perfectly objective, they would've replaced the NBC already, which won't happen, but TSL is still impressive for a blog.

Mmmm. I was just going through the list of threads in “The Edge”, and just noticed that I missed that this thread had been revived a couple of weeks ago!

Since I started this thread, there has been a major development. You know the way I was saying that Simon already had a lot on his plate, what with running Eurosport’s commentary department, as well as commentating on tennis. Well, British Eurosport has lost the UK rights for the women’s tennis (as well as MotoGP) from the start of 2014 to British Telecom’s new sports channel.

So, that is one less thing taking Simon away from his figure skating!

…There again, Simon was commentating on the BBC’s coverage of Wimbledon, so there is always the possibility that he could follow the tennis and switch to BT Sport. I really hope not! It would be a great loss not only to Eurosport, but a massive loss to our sport!

He’s the best figure-skating-commentator-who-has-not-been-a-skater-themselves that there is!

Anyway, I thought I would take this opportunity to explain a bit further why I was going with Jenny.

Firstly, Jenny Kirk was a very good skater when she was competing. Plus, she has the benefit of having competed under both judging systems, and so can give a more balanced appraisal than those that have just competed under one or the other.

Secondly, since she retired, Jenny has transformed herself into a very competent journalist.

Although it has not been going for long, “The Skating Lesson” has already got a cult following. OK, so there are things I don’t like about it, but it is impossible to please everybody all of the time. Yes, Jenny and Dave frequently make me cringe with the way they go on. But they can be serious, and when they are, they are as professional an interviewer as you can get.

Personally, I think the serious Jenny would fit in perfectly with Simon, Chris and Nicky.

Oh, and Jenny has made no secret of how much she admires the British Eurosport commentators, especially for how unbiased they are. I remember one time she posted a link to a YouTube video of a routine on her Facebook profile. It was one of those routines that had controversial marking (I can’t remember now which one it was, as there have now been so many controversial scores…), and she did nothing but praise the way in which Simon and Chris reacted to it.

A few people have commented in various threads that Jenny’s “new accent” is hard to listen to. And, I do tend to agree. Of course, being hard to listen to is not a good thing for a commentator. But, given how good a journalist she is, I was willing to overlook that in this instance.

Every year, I watch the Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Finals. Now, it is not because I am one of these people that are crazy about Eurovision! Rather, it is because the current voting system means that a lot of the good acts get knocked out before the Final.

Usually, the BBC have 2 of their Radio 1 DJ’s, Scott Mills and Sara Cox, commentating on the Semi-Finals. I like Scott, but Sara is VERY hard to listen to. But, this year, Scott was instead joined by Ana Matronic from the Scissor Sisters. Before this, I had only ever heard Ana when she was singing. But, after hearing her talk normally, I absolutely fell in love with her accent!

So, can anybody think of any female skaters from Oregon who might be interested in commentating for a TV channel in the UK…?

When this thread started, it was *before* Kirk disgraced herself with those increasingly "mean girls" videos with Dave Lease. I think they've gone too far and become too unprofessional for any major network to consider them now.

Have you never heard of Joan Rivers? Or tons of others like that who are far more biting than Jenny + Dave?

There is nothing unprofessional about it. It's a form of expression/entertainment.

My French is pretty well non-existent but the little I "gleamed" from the French Eurosport announcers for Yu-Na Kim's last performance was pretty funny, (I think). First the woman was absolutely quiet during the whole skate and as Yu-na was finishing her free skate it was like the woman just realized the performance was coming to an end and she asked out loud in surprise, c'est complete? (I think) Obviously she was completely bowled over and then her male counter part had fun with her teasing her by inferring Yu-na cheated (I think) by telling her during the slow-motion recast of her jumps that she was relying on magic to do her jumps where the woman good naturedly accused him of being a meany. (My interpretation and I am probably way off on this)
Anyway I think most of all those Eurosport announcers are pretty interesting.

Normally I love Eurosport commentary but I have found Nicky and Simons knowledge/lack of research at Nebelhorn very poor and dissapointing. They have no idea of the qualifying rules and numbers to qualify in each discipline. Nicky claimed this evening that Isadora Williams didn't make the Olympics, and that the Germans could get extra spots in dance.

Normally I love Eurosport commentary but I have found Nicky and Simons knowledge/lack of research at Nebelhorn very poor and dissapointing. They have no idea of the qualifying rules and numbers to qualify in each discipline. Nicky claimed this evening that Isadora Williams didn't make the Olympics, and that the Germans could get extra spots in dance.

Thanks for your comment. I just watched Jason Browns short. At the end of it the commentators said that if Jason finished in the top six, the US would get 3 men in the Olympics - that now the US has only 2. I thought, "WHAT!? What have I missed?". I'm assuming the commentators just don't know how the Olympic spots work.

While the Eurosport team have plenty of experience, and are knowledgeable enough about figure skating as a sport, I find their lack of understanding of the details and nuances of the CoP scoring system to be yet another glaring example of how poorly understood the system is more broadly speaking. As commentators, I DO think they some responsibility to try to explain the system to viewers - fans and the casual audience. In this regard, they fall short. In my book, that is disappointing.